We are revisiting pre-existing songs of dissent and revolution from every where: Coke studio, Pakistan to the Indian People’s Theatre Association songbook to Bollywood. Independent musicians are coming up with new music that to add their voices to the movement.

This is a list of songs and poems that have been created as a direct result of the protests and have all been released in the span of last three weeks or so. By the time this piece will be published, there will be some more, and then some. Plus, a recommendation of documentaries that are relevant.

Songs

Krantikari – Park Circus

The irreverent and catchy track by Funkadelic hip hop collective – that gets its name from the Park Circus area in Kolkata which has, incidentally, become a venue for the ongoing protests – has a weird, local flow, and a killer punch line.

The Police – Rahul Rajkhowa

Dedicated to the 16 year old Sam Stafford who was shot during the protests against the CAA in Assam last month, Rahul Rajkhowa raps against police violence.

Public Property – Hoirong

With a video made of “WhatsApp forwards videos in the public domain”, the Bengaluru-Delhi based noise rock band uses megaphone effects and garage punk electric guitars, and a refrain that goes: All these decisions are based on religion.

Bakre Ki Amma – Fiddlecraft

With its easy indie pop sound, the Pune-based band has lyrics that serve as a warning: School college nahi, suna hai detention camp bann rahe hai.

Taking it forward from Grover’s “Kaagaz Nahi Dikhayenge”, Puneet Sharma’s poem – recited on the first day of the Gateway of India protests – makes a necessary point beautifully: My country and I are close enough. Who the hell are you?

Vishal Bhardwaj’s Hum Mayoos Nahi Hai

At the protest organised at Carter Road in Mumbai’s Bandra, where a number of filmmakers had come together, Bhardwaj read out lines from a poem he wrote. The delivery is almost tender, the words sting: Sach bhi itna jhootha lagne lagta hai, jhooth bhi itna sacchai se bolte ho.

Documentaries

Ram Ke Naam, Anand Patwardhan

It may be a good time to watch/revisit Anand Patwardhan’s seminal film that documented the madness that began it all: the destruction of the Babri masjid in 1991.

Final Solution, Rakesh Sharma

There is an eerily prescient moment in Rakesh Sharma’s damning documentation of the involvement of the Gujarat government in the Godhra pogrom of 2002 that links it to the present day: A muslim man dreads the day he has to prove his love for India with a piece of paper, and breaks down in front of the camera.

Meeting a Milestone – Ustad Bismillah Khan, Gautam Ghose

Ustad Bismillah Khan while recounting his days as a struggling musician, draws a portrait of India that most of us believe in. It is shameful that the current government is hell bent on burning this country, it's institutions and its students. This is not the time to remain silent. Take a stand, reject hate. No to NRC, CAA, NPR. Via Chandan Gomes. From Meeting a Milestone: Ustad Bismillah Khan by Goutam Ghose.

You may have seen this 40 second clip doing the rounds on social media. Shehnai legend Bismillah Khan — a beedi in hand — talking about how nowhere in the world matches the fakiri way of life around the ghats of Benaras, thereby setting a wonderful example of the Ganga Jamuni tehzeeb. The film, by Gautam Ghose, is available for paid viewing on the National Film Development Corporation website.

Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, Netflix

The Oscar-nominated film about the “Euromaidan” protests of Ukraine in 2014 served as a model and inspiration for young protestors in Hong Kong. Maybe there is something for us to learn from it as well.

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